Section of building that was once home to Musharraf is torn down

A section of the Neharwali Haveli in Daryaganj,the ancestral home of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf,has been demolished,kicking off a row with local MLA Shoaib Iqbal claiming that the city has lost a landmark.

A section of the Neharwali Haveli in Daryaganj,the ancestral home of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf,has been demolished,kicking off a row with local MLA Shoaib Iqbal claiming that the city has lost a landmark.

Musharraf visited the haveli in 2001,spending time with a select group of people,including an 80-year-old woman who had been cleaning homes in the area for decades.

Residents of the area said a multi-storeyed building is being built at the site. MLA Iqbal said he noticed the demolition only on Tuesday and was shocked that most of what once comprised the courtyard of the haveli had been razed.

I was there when Pervez Musharraf visited the house in 2001. I was with him when he took a round of this property. I was shocked to discover that a portion of it was demolished recently. The original Neharwali Haveli was spread over a large area, Iqbal said.

Jatin,a resident of the locality,said: My father has been running a shop opposite this property ever since Partition. All we know is that some people used to live in this crumbling building which was part of the Neharwali Haveli. But they moved out and a portion of it was torn down. Finally,the old structure was pulled down three-four months ago.

The sprawling haveli,where Musharraf was born on August 11,1943,is tucked away in a narrow lane behind Golcha cinema in Daryaganj.

It was Musharrafs grandfather,Qazi Mohtashimuddin,who had bought the haveli after retiring from government service. When the family left Delhi to start life afresh in Pakistan,the house was sold to cloth merchant Madan Lal Jain.

A resident of the Jain household,who did not wish to be named,said: Our house is part of the haveli. When Musharraf visited,he came to our house. The portion that has been broken formed a part of the haveli. Thats what we were told by our elders. But now there is no way of telling.